I had lower back pain for years, which ended up being a herniated disk, resulting in surgery 2 years ago.I remember my surgeon telling me that I should have no further problems if I kept my weight down.now I am 20lbs heavier.I need to lose the weight because I know he was right!It does cause stress on your joints and spine.i can tell the difference since my gain.Good luck.
My HW was about 217 and my height is 5'5". I gained a lot in my midsection because I was on prednisone and it encourages more weight to accumulate in your middle (normally I gain in my hips and thighs, not my belly and chest, which is why i mention the prednisone, because I never had the back problems before). So anyway I ended up with this pot belly and an enormous chest, which caused me back pains even just walking across the street sometimes.
Since losing a bit and trying to strengthen my stomach and lower back muscles, I definitely notice a difference. I used to be in horrid pain from walking just one block, now I regularly walk my parents' dog for about a mile, and I walk to the post office and to friends' houses with no back pain (walking is also how I lost some of the weight, but I had to take it VERY slowly due to the pain. Overdoing it and injuring yourself is not worth it!). The weight on the front puts extra strain on your back muscles, so it hurts to work out, and if you work out less, then the muscles get even weaker, causing MORE pain. It's a bad cycle and difficult to break.
But yeah, to answer your question, when I began losing a bit of the gut, my back pain began to diminish as well. And then I found it easier to exercise, because I wasn't in horrible pain!
One of my dad's friends is a doctor and he is fond of saying, "Never seen a bad back that didn't have a bad front..."
Of course there are thin people who suffer from back pain, but if you are overweight and have back pain, there is a decent chance your weight is contributing to it.
I've got low back and knee issues and I've only lost about 15 pounds so far, but I'd say losing some weight as well as being active again has helped with the pain. I've found that walking and yoga really helps because it stretches out the muscles. Not to say I still don't experience issues with my back and knee, but the frequency of pain has gotten better.
Oh, my YES! I totally was there (same starting stats - 50 years old, 215 and 5'4"). I had so much trouble with my lower back!
Now - absolutely pain free! I started with walking, some very basic yoga and lots of chair exercises. I slowly added some WATP DVDs and then some other low-impact DVDS. I really like workout DVDs because I could pause them if I needed a rest. I could also modify any exercies if I needed, and slowly build up to "full" participation.
I'm here to tell you that at 51 1/2, I am totally pain free, able to walk 10-15 miles and feeling 20 years younger.
My short answer is YES it helped a TON to get the weight off..
I started at 534 pounds and I suffered a back injury about 8 years ago (which is a lot of the reason that I put the weight on in the first place) I had back pain daily (still do to some extent because of the injury) I am down to 338 pounds and just finished week 1 of the C25K program last night. when I started off at thie losing weight thang in Jan 2008 at 534 pounds, I could not walk more than about 5 minutes without leaning on something and now I am running and mostly because of the lesser back pain.
These are all wonderful suggestions. I heartily recommend any book by Hamilton Hall if you are interested in managing your back pain. I'm currently reading "A Consultation with the back Doctor" which is the latest. There are apparently four different types--and four different ways of managing it. So, definitely, if you are truly flummoxed--read the book!
Ohhhh yes! I do believe weight and back pain are strongly intertwined. After fluctuating between 240 and 280 for a few years, I noticed that at weight 265 is when I would notice back pain.
I didn't keep up with this thread after my first couple of posts - but glad to see all the posters are finding that their back pain goes away with the weight loss! Kiramira - great links - thank you! Yeah, I hate the upside down ones too. My BF keep asking me about doing handstands and I just laugh at him.
Another thought - be sure you are supplementing with the correct calcium supplements and getting your Vitamin D!
